. >> thank you. >> coming up on c-span, live to new york city wheretheunitednationssecuritycouncil is meeting to discuss the current middle east violence between israel and palestine. that is set for 330 eastern, again, on our companion network, c-span. tonight in prime time here on c-span2, author mark friedman discusses his new book, the big shift, navigating the new stage beyond midlife. he discusses how the baby boom generation is switching to new careers later in life. that begins at 8:00 p.m. eastern, again, here on c-span2. >> there are many people who might even take issue with grants saving the union during the civil war. didn't lincoln do that? well, yes, he did, and i'm not going to see grant was the only person to save the union, but he was the commanding general of the army's dumping of lincoln's policies into effect. he was the general who accepted the surrender of the army of northern virginia that ended the war. if anybody won the war on the battlefield, if you could say that any one person did, and of course you can't. one of the things we do in history is generali

, quote, peacefully grant the state of texas to withdraw fromtheunitedstatesof america and create its own new government. as "the washington post" dana milbank put it in a recent column f obama were serious about being a good steward of the nation's finances, he would let them go. did you hear that? because many of those states are what dana milbank said are government takers, they take more in federal money than they pay in taxes. alabama gets $1.71 from the federal government for every $1 paid in taxes. louisiana gets $1.45 in federal aid for every $1 they pay in taxes. author of "bush's brain," and james braxton peterson associate professor of english at lehigh, and michael steele, former chair of the rnc and a political analyst here at msnbc. gentlemen, this is an extraordinary thing but let's talk about this, professor peterson, recent "daily beast" article you talked about using maps in 1859 to america today where states are petitioning to secede following obama's election. you write they were pro-slavery or open to slavery. this same collective of states were required to be rac